Dragon in the Wolf's Den
by 2FeelA'lilLove
Summary: Aerella Targaryen is the first daughter of Aerys and Rhaella Targaryen, only older than her precious sister Daenerys. She is only favorite after Rhaegar and is the only Targaryen left in Westeros after Robert's Rebellion. Follow her journey as she grows up in Winterfell, the honorary beloved daughter of Lord Eddard and Catelyn. The summary sucks, but it was worth a shot.


I am not the owner of Game of Thrones or any of the characters. Game of Thrones belongs solely to the genius that is G. R. R. Martin. I own my original characters. That is it.

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The servant standing amidst the Kingsguard was trembling, straining to calm the struggling princess in her arms. It was useless though. The princess knew little of the common tongue - she was raised speaking old Valyrian with her parents. There were few left in King's Landing that spoke the old language as the Small Council had been killed as soon as Tywin Lannister had arrived at the Red Keep.

Now they waited for the arrival of Robert Baratheon, the new king. The little princess began whimpering as the trumpets blared. Loud noises had always unsettled her but she usually had her mother, father, or brother there to comfort her. Across the hall, Jaime Lannister struggled to remain standing next to his father. He felt compelled to comfort the princess. But he couldn't; he had helped destroy her world.

He had been around most of her life, first as a guard in the hall. Eventually he ended up as a personal guard to both the King and his daughter. He had always been her protector. The guilt ate away at him, leaving his stomach unsettled and made it difficult to look at her without his stomach turning. When he glanced at her, meeting her eyes as she whimpered, he could still see the blood smeared across her cheeks. Her father's blood. Then he remembered the moment she had seen her older brother's kind wife, Elia and her children. She had openly sobbed, something that had only occurred a few times in her 5 years. As the trumpets got louder, Princess Aerella became more and more unrestless, her wet indigo eyes darting around the room. When Jaime turned to look at her, his restraint broke and he was across the hall in long strides to sweep her up into his own arms.

" _Calm Princess_." His voice was soft as he brushed her tiny fingers from tangling in her white-gold hair. She buried her face into the space between his armor and chin, covering her ears and wrapping her short legs around her torso as best she could. Jaime turned, eyeing the servant and strode back to his father's side. Tywin Lannister disdainfully eyed the 5 year old before turning his glare to his son. At that moment, before Jaime could address his father, the Usurper made his entrance into the main hall. The Baratheon made his way down the carpet followed by Eddard Stark, the new Warden of the North. Both men, though clean, looked haggard and tired.

The young princess shifted to look at the two men as she felt the knight tighten his grip on her. Her eyes turned to look up at his face, instantly noticing the tension in his jaw. Noticing his eyes trained forward, she turned her gaze to focus back on the dark haired men. As she studied them, she allowed Jaime to set her down on her feet. Out of habit, she backed up slightly and half hid behind him. The movement caught the eye of the longer haired of the two, the one with the wolf embellished on his cloak. As soon as their eyes met, she ducked behind Jaime's legs - gripping his pants and peaking around his legs.

Jaime noticed the puzzled look of Lord Stark and took to watching the man closely. Jaime shifted slightly so she was farther behind him, only for her to look around his legs. Lord Stark shook his head and turned back to follow his friend. Jaime breathed out his relief. His relief was short lived however as soon a loud yelled filled the hall.

Everyone turned towards the crying child princess to see her sitting in the floor with her foot clutched between her hands. Her eyes were trained on Lord Tywin who held the most innocent smirk on his face. From the floor, she began yelling words that no one could understand. Pounding footsteps rushed forward and soon, the king-to-be was glaring down at the young child in shock and anger. Aerella seemed not to notice the large man now towering over her.

As he glared at his father, he swooped down to stand the small child up. At his touch, she became silent with an innocent smile on her face. This was the same innocent smile that had bewitched all of the nobles that had ever had the opportunity to meet her. The smile silenced the room, including the yelling of Robert Baratheon who looked down at the princess suspiciously. Nedd Stark stood silent, knowing that a child with that innocent smile never meant anything good.

With a tilt of her head, her straight hair fell down over her shoulders. In an instant, she swept back her tiny leg and kicked Tywin Lannister in the shin as hard as she was able. The room was completely silent in that moment and everyone in the room went completely rigid.

"Mean man." Her common tongue was choppy as she grinned up at the old man. Tywin Lannister opened his mouth to retort only to pause and close his mouth. Aerella visibly straightened up and turned to grin up at the men around her, noticing the soft smiles of Ser Jaime and Lord Stark. The grin slowly faded though when she noticed the annoyed glower of Robert Baratheon. With that look, she seemed to shrink into herself, looking more like a child than ever. She glanced down to the ground before beginning to pull on her hair, something they knew she did when under duress.

"Why does she live? I ordered all Targaryens executed." The deep voice of Robert Baratheon boomed throughout the hall, startling the small child into backing away from him.

"The child did nothing. She barely speaks the common tongue." The attention of Robert Baratheon turned to Jaime Lannister, the man everyone knew was responsible for the Mad King' death. His looked down to confirm that the small girl still stood by his legs.

"She has his blood and that is enough." Tywin Lannister's voice was quiet, but cold and demanding. Robert Baratheon nodded and began to agree but he paused when he looked down at the small child. Her body was completely still with her hair falling over her face. What caught his attention though was the large Targaryen medallion that hung down to her stomach, the silver chain wrapped multiple times around her small neck. The silver medallion was three entangled dragons with small rubies as eyes.

"Give me that child." Robert Baratheon stooped down and reached out to pull away the medallion. Her answer to his demand, that she may not have completely understood, only caused her to stumble away, eventually backing into boot clad legs. "You little ra-"

"Robert! She is but a child." Nedd Starks voice shocked all spectators in the way he spoke to his closest friend. Everyone knew he was a father. Both of his sons were around the same age of the young princess. Since becoming a father, he had developed a protectiveness over young children. The young princess looked up and behind her towards the kinder man. As she studied him, yelling began and soon the voices escalated enough that it made her uncomfortable. She shimmied her way behind the kind man quietly. Neither man seemed to notice her movement though Nedd Stark shifted slightly when he felt tiny hands tangle into his pants leg.

"We will not have that brat in our house!" Tywin Lannister's voice rang loudly throughout the hall. "Who would care for her? Obviously not you. And I will not expose your sister to the monstrosity." At this point, most had ushered themselves from the Great hall.

Ser Jaime Lannister knew his father was correct. He couldn't allow Aerella to grow up in a place where she was hated. No child deserved that.

"It's settled then. The rat will be disposed of."

"She is just a child! She wouldn't even be raised a Targaryen. Her remaining family has fled from Westeros. Why not give her a chance to live? She has done nothing wrong." Jaime was desperate.

The loud voices began to be too much for the small ears that didn't understand. Tears began to pull in her eyes and a whimper came from her lips.

Eddard Stark had been mostly silent throughout most of this argument as he was horrified by the hatred his closest friend expressed towards the child. A feeling swelled in his chest, the same feeling he felt whenever his own boys were upset. Without another thought, he swept the young girl up into his arms where she wrapped herself around him.

"No." His voice was hard, harder than he had expected it to be. Robert Baratheon turned to speak but paused when he noticed the girl wrapped in his dear friends arms.

"No? What do you mean 'no'?"

"I mean this child will not be harmed. I won't stand by and allow a child to be killed." The Lannister men stood by, shocked into silence.

"Nedd you have more reason to hate her than anyone in this room!"Robert Baratheon was angry. How dare Nedd Stark protect the Targaryen rat? "She is a Targaryen! Do I need to remind you what they did to your family? They are the reason your father was burned alive in his armor. Your brother was strangled. Your sister..." His voice cracked but he focused his glare solely on the child staring at him with wide eyes. His glare turned to Nedd's face when the other man turned his torso around, shielding the child form the other man.

Robert scoffed and turned away to pace.

"I will never forget what Aerys Targaryen did to my family. Never." Robert paused and turned to stare. Nedd's voice was quiet, as cool as the land he ruled, and held so much anger that all the breathing in the room paused. "And while I may hate that man, I will not hate the child that did nothing wrong. Even when his blood does flow through her veins."

The room was silent.

"I'm going to take her back to Winterfell with me." Ser Jaime opened his mouth to retort but a tight grip on his arm made him pause. With a glance towards his father, he notice the slight shaking of his head. With the pause, a thought crossed his mind. _Between the Lannisters and the Starks, Winterfell is obviously the safest_.

The Usurper stared, open mouthed for a moment before scowling. He turned away and his whole body tensed up with his next sentence. "Then you will be the one to dispose of her if she becomes a problem to the kingdom." With that, he walked farther into the room towards the towering Iron Throne.

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Within a fortnight, the last Targaryen in Westeros left King's Landing - after Nedd managed to repair his relationship with Robert.


End file.
